


Statement Pieces

by quiet_nikai



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, No beta we kayak like Tim, Set right after episode 118
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26425735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet_nikai/pseuds/quiet_nikai
Summary: Melanie wants to murder El*as, Martin has an idea how to Not burn the statements but still dispose of them.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Melanie King
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Statement Pieces

“We need to kill him. Look at you. He needs to  **die** .” Melanie was angry, just as he was, but murder would only make things worse. 

“No. No, I – I knew what this was gonna be.” Martin choked a sob and tried to compose himself. The lighter was on the floor, right where he fell when Elias put how  _ dreadful  _ seeing him was for his mother.  _ Later.  _ Martin hugged himself in an effort to calm down.  _ It never helped. _

“It’s not just for  _ you! _ If we leave him alive –” Melanie tried to argue. 

“Melanie. Melanie, please.” Martin reached to Melanie, but as he was just about to catch her sleeve, she sighed. 

“Alright. Let’s get these somewhere safe.”

The tape clicked off. 

“Sorry for - for making you see me like this.”

“Elias should be sorry. Not you. After we move these boxes, would you want some tea? I don’t really know how you-”

“Thank you, Melanie.”

There was a comfortable silence, stopped by boxes full of paper to be…  _ Disposed of _ behind Elias’s back being dropped ungracefully onto the ground. 

“Melanie, are you aware of something called a “statement piece”?”

“Why would I not be?"

“Tim taught me once how to make a hat out of paper. They were never large enough for my head, but I think that if we staple some of them” Martin pointed toward a box with statements “I might finally make one large enough for me. You know. A statement piece.”

“Are you _really_ in a mood to joke right now? You were-”

“I am not. Elias only told me to not  _ burn _ any more statements.”

“I am listening.” Melanie sat by a nearby desk, her eyes shining and a small smirk on her face. 

“There are many ways to destroy something. I don’t have to burn anything, as therapeutic as- as it was. Do you think Rosie has scissors in her office? None of the archival assistants, more like archival prisoners, thought to bring any.” Martin picked up the lighter and put it in his pocket, a white web on black Halloween-y design gaudy but not changing the usefulness of the item. “I am still going to read the titles, if a tape recorder shows up in a vicinity. They sometimes feel as if Jon was here and I could tell him about the statements.”

“Do what makes you happy.”

“I really miss him already.”

“I feel that too but towards someone else. Haven’t seen her since yesterday morning.” Melanie sighed. “So, tea?”

“O- oh, I should make it, right. You still drink bla-”

“No.  _ I  _ am making tea. Tell me, how do you drink yours? Haven’t yet been able to get how you have it.”

“I- Melanie, you don’t have to do this.”

“I want to. So I am getting a kettle with water on and you will tell me.”

Martin sighed and stalked towards the break room where there was a kettle already on. He opened a drawer with tea. There was no more of the black tea type liked by Tim, the empty box reminding him of a coffin. 

“Martin?” Martin dropped the empty tea box and turned sharply towards Melanie’s voice.

“Sorry, Melanie. Didn’t-”

“Sorry for startling y-” Their voices overlapped.

“You go first.” They said in unison and sighed. 

“Sorry for startling you. You are here so I can ask you, how do you drink your tea?”

“Green, from leaves. No milk, no sugar. Slightly under-brewed.”

“So basically like water but bitter?”

“Your tea is more milk and sugar than tea. you are in no place to speak”

Martin prepared mugs for them both. The water boiled and both Melanie and Martin dashed towards the kettle. Just as Melanie was about to commit a crime of putting boiling water directly on green tea, he got a smidge of cold water into it.

“I really don’t know how you can drink green tea. It’s  _ disgusting _ .”

“Not if you brew it properly. Uh, I don’t like it when it’s too strong so I under-brew it slightly but I might try and make some for you. How much water is in the kettle?”

“Enough for two more mugs.”

“Great. I hope no one will-” Martin put his own down and Melanie put the right amount of water. She got milk and put a copious amount of sugar in. Martin reminded himself not to judge people. He opened another drawer, this time with various mugs and cups “oh, I forgot I had this one here. I can make you actually good green tea.”

The cup was white with whiskers drawn on it and the handle looked like a tail of an orange cat. He got the exact right amount of tea leaves, put less cold water than he did for himself and then hot water.

Melanie smiled.

“You know you didn’t have to?”

“Brewing tea correctly is important. I know green tea might not be for everyone but most of the people just think of it as a “healthy drink that has to taste bad” instead of something to be enjoyed! It isn’t funny, Melanie!” Martin glared at Melanie who chuckled.

Martin took his mug and Melanie took both of hers and they went upstairs to do some paperwork.

The “paperwork” resulted in none of the statement titles being recorded, but instead written down on a piece of paper. There weren’t any tape recorders in the vicinity, which made Melanie feel safer.

“So coming back to our conversation from earlier… have you seen a stapler?” Martin sipped his tea. 

“Stapler… Ah, yes! Stapler!” Melanie checked the desk and fumbled around. She put the staples in and gave it to Martin.

“We have to categorise the files. Some of them aren’t stapled  _ correctly _ so make sure to do it like that.” Martin took out two “fake” statements (not that he would have known that without recording them) and laid them flat and stapled them into a bigger sheet of paper. Then he folded it into a hat and put it on Melanie’s head. “Fashion statement.”

“And you?”

“Don’t worry.” Martin stapled a heavy one and a very light one together, both four pages long and made a paper hat for himself. “I wish I could make hats for people who left the Institute. Statement pieces for everyone.”

“Well, they aren’t here, but what is stopping us from making hats for everyone but Elias? He does deserve a poisoned one or none at all.”

“You have a point. After we go through all this box, what can we do with the rest?”

“The internet does not work correctly here but I was thinking about origami. I have made a thousand butterflies once.”

“People usually make a thousand paper cranes if they want something to happen, don’t they?”

“Technically I could have, but I was a teen back then. I didn’t care about wishes or things like those. Still don’t. I just liked butterflies.” Melanie paused. ” Like. I never stopped.”

“Will you teach me how to make them?”

“If I still remember how to, then yes.”

“Great! Now, hats.”

They kept stapling the paper together, Martin mentally going through departments and counting people he passed in the corridors every day, but never bothered to learn anything about.

After stapling the whole box, statements of various temperatures and feeling under fingers, the hats were made and distributed. It was mostly met with either glee or mistrust, but finally everyone but Elias had a hat.

“Well, it’s not much of a statement now, all those statement pieces, if everyone has them.” Melanie remarked, giggling slightly. “Are you okay now?”

“I am fine, thank you.”

“But really?”

“Yes. Right now it’s okay. How was green tea?”

“Really good, didn’t taste like green tea. I would still like to try it with sugar.” 

“So now butterflies?”

“Butterflies. Maybe cranes if you know how to make them.”

“I do, actually. At least I think I do.”


End file.
